Seoul Warns on Possible North Korea Nuclear Test

South Korean protesters hold pictures of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during an anti-North Korea rally against recent missile launches and provocative acts, on the birthday of its founder, Kim Il Sung, in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, April 15, 2014. The Korean writing reads “Abolition, North Korea’s nuclear and Denounce, North Korea’s missile launch.”

For Pyongyang, could that present an opportunity for a fourth nuclear test?

As with all things North Korea, it’s not immediately clear. But experts and North Korea watchers say that Pyongyang certainly has the ability to conduct a nuclear test at any given moment – a possibility that South Korea’s military says that it’s taking seriously.

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On Tuesday, South Korea’s Defense Ministry told reporters that North Korea has recently been showing “various signs of provocative threats,” and appeared to be preparing for some sort of action.

These Jan. 4, 2014, and Feb. 3, 2014, satellite image taken by Astrium and annotated and distributed by 38 North, shows satellite images showing that North Korea has accelerated excavation at a site used for underground nuclear test explosions according to the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2014.

Associated Press

The ministry’s spokesman, Kim Min-seok, said that it was detecting signs of various activities in Punggye-ri, the site of North Korea’s previous three nuclear tests near the country’s northeastern coast.

“We are considering that North Korea could do a sudden nuclear test, and as the previous cases show, we
are considering the possibility of a provocation disguised as a nuclear test,” Mr. Kim said.

While Mr. Kim added that he couldn’t share more details, or what countermeasures South Korea’s military was taking, he said that the defense ministry was preparing for a range of possibilities, including a fourth nuclear test.

In response to a reporter’s question, Mr. Kim said that the South believed the North was already at a stage where it was capable of carrying out a sudden nuclear test.

“As far as I know, they are prepared in many ways,” Mr. Kim said. “They are at a stage where they can carry out a nuclear test at any time, whenever they make the decision.”